Parents protest pending closure of La Mirada school

LA MIRADA - A group of parents and employees took to the streets Friday night to protest the proposed closure of Dulles Elementary School.

Carrying signs, flashlights and noisemakers, they congregated at Imperial Highway and Santa Gertrudes Avenue to voice their displeasure and garner support.

The Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District notified parents the Thursday before winter break about its plans to close the campus at the end of this school year, as well as a meeting to present its reasons for doing so.

According to a three-year forecast the district shared last month, it will run deficits of $8.8 million this year, $9.5 million in fiscal 2013-14 and $14.3 million in fiscal 2014-15.

The meeting took place last Tuesday, two days after classes resumed after the two-week break.

"I think the timing of the mailers and the meeting were scheduled intentionally to make sure as little people (as possible) showed up for the meeting," said protest organizer Bernice Ramirez.

She is the parent of two children who attended Dulles.

"They should not be closing such a great school," Ramirez said. "We have lost faith in the district to make the right choices for our schools."

The board will vote at its

6:30 p.m. meeting on Jan. 22.

According to district documents, 268 Dulles students would be attending La Pluma and Eastwood elementary schools in September.

"The two schools are high-performing schools," Superintendent Ruth Perez said. "We feel for the parents and their concerns, but our first priority is to provide the best educational environment for our students."

Ramirez disagreed with that assessment, saying that Dulles is not a subpar school.

"The presentation they made was awful, making our teachers and students look bad," she said. "They are just trying to justify their bad decisions."